Book Review- Cinderella Ate My Daughter

I love reading and will read anything and everything. Now lately I'm obsessed with finding any books pertaining to parenting or raising daughters. A friend recommended the above book to me and I thought it sounded interesting. The point of the book is the author's exploration of the girly girls princess trend that little girls are exposed to. So I started reading it this weekend

While the book was interesting and raised some good points I hated it. I dont agree with anything the author really had to say

You see I myself am a girlie girl. And I love anything princess related, tutu inspired, pink outfit I can find. Obviously that's not all I get for Gianna but what is wrong with calling her my little princess and finding all that sort of stuff cute

According to the author it's very wrong. She states that girls exposed to this princess phenomenon, grow up to be insecure and less successful than others. She claims that Disney Princess toys teach our daughters about excluding others since there is only one princess in those stories and on toys where the princesses are shown together they don't look at each other. Ugh that's reading so much into a princess toy!

And don't even get this author started on Disney movies. Apparently the Little Mermaids main purpose is teaching little girls they have to give things up to meet their prince. Pretty sure that when I was 7 and watching that movie I could have cared less about her and the prince. I just wanted to be a mermaid! And later on in my high school and college years I didn't refer back to the Little Mermaid for dating advice

Yet this author links playing with these toys and watching those movies will be the downfall of today's girls

Honestly I couldn't find any toy the author deemed appropriate for her daughter. She was against Abby Cadaby, American girl dolls, Bratz dolls(ok those I can see why she won't let her daughter have) and babies. She did let her daughter play with Polly Pockets but still found dlfault with those. And she despises anything pink

The whole time reading this book I just felt that the author was reading way to much into things. Taking her opinions a little to far. I agree as a parent you do need to limit exposure of certain things you deem inappropriate. Of course I'm gonna call my daughter my little princess and dress her up all nice and cute but I'm also going to instill in her values, kindness and the importance of an education and doing well in school.

Ohh and another point the author tried to make was that we place too much pressures on our daughters nowadays expecting them to be pretty and smart.these expectations lead to depression and higher risk of suicide in our girls.

C'mon! Why can't a girl be pretty and smart. Why does she have to choose one or the other?

Through it all the part I found very funny was when she started talking about boys toys. She states growing up she played with barbies and dolls along with Legos and guns with her brother. She goes on to explain that her friends with boys won't let them play with guns because it promotes violence. She thought that was crazy. She states that playing with guns or watching violence on tv won't make a boy grow up to be violent. Yet a princess dress will make a girl grow up to be selfish and insecure

I'm sure there are those that would disagree with my review about this book. As I told my his and when reading this that I could never be a feminist. I like gender roles and had a blast playing with my barbies as a kid
In all seriousness I found the author contradictory and biased. Did it piqué my interest and inform me on things I didn't know. Yes it did but it's def not a parenting book to refer to when raising girls. Unless of course you are against the whole girly girl culture!

Alright guys that's the end of my
Book review! Thanks for letting me share my opinions

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